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Brazilian Police Arrest José Tiago Correia Soroka in Killings of Three Gay Men

Found in a Curitiba boarding house after a manhunt that began in mid-May, the 33-year-old confessed, police said, to killing three men he met on dating apps.

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Illustration: a city street at night with police lights and officers in the distance

Police in southern Brazil watched a boarding house in Curitiba through the night, and on the morning of Saturday, May 29, 2021, the Paraná Civil Police arrested José Tiago Correia Soroka there. He did not resist and was taken to the homicide division. The 33-year-old had been the subject of a public manhunt since mid-May, wanted in the deaths of three gay men in Paraná and Santa Catarina and an attack on a fourth who survived.

He had been staying in the boarding house, in the Capão Raso neighborhood, for at least five days, according to Tribuna do Paraná. Police said they received tips that he was in the area, and he was identified there on the night of Friday, May 28. NSC Total reported that the surviving victim helped investigators find him, and that security camera footage also played a part.

At the homicide division, Camila Cecconello, the delegate in charge, said he confessed. "We questioned him about the three deaths of the young men and the attempt on a fourth, and he confessed to them, giving details of the crimes," she said. Soroka told investigators that robbery had been his aim. Cecconello said some evidence suggested there could also be an element of hatred in what he did.

The first man to die was Robson Olivino Paim, 36, a professor at the Federal University of the Southern Frontier and a doctoral student in geography, killed on April 16 at his home in Abelardo Luz, in western Santa Catarina. His father and an aunt found his body the next day, after a full day with no word from him. In Curitiba, police said, Soroka killed David Júnior Alves Levisio, a nurse, on April 27, and Marco Vinício Bozzana da Fonseca, 25, a medical student, in early May. On May 11 he attacked another man in the city's Bigorrilho neighborhood. That man fought him off but lost some of his belongings.

Police said the pattern did not change. Soroka arranged meetings with the men through dating apps, went to their homes, and waited for a moment when they were off guard. "He goes to the victims' homes and catches the person unprepared, puts them in a chokehold, suffocates them with a pillow or a blanket, and takes the victim's belongings after the killing," Cecconello said. The men lived alone.

At a press conference during the search, the delegate Thiago Nóbrega warned that the suspect was killing an average of one person a week. Nóbrega said the attacker had told the surviving victim that he was the Joker and that he liked to kill. After the arrest, Nóbrega said the investigation would go on, to find out whether there were other victims no one yet knew about.

What the record does and does not say. On May 29, 2021, Soroka was a suspect under arrest. His confession was reported by police and had not been tested in court. Published details differ: Tribuna do Paraná gave David Júnior Alves Levisio's age as 28 and NSC Total as 30, and Marco Vinício Bozzana da Fonseca's death was reported as May 4 by Tribuna and May 5 by NSC Total. The surviving victim was not named.

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